Currently, there are two types of fused air conditioner disconnects on the market. The first type has long projections extending from the rear side of the puller unit that are inserted into receptacles, which, in turn, are coupled to respective line and load terminals. This insertion of the puller unit forms a bus bar such that the line wires are connected to the line terminals, which are coupled to the bus bar, the bus bar is connected to the fuses that are connected to the load terminals, and finally, to complete the circuit, the load terminals are connected to the load wires.
The second type of fused air conditioner disconnect includes a pull header with prongs extending downward therefrom, which, when the header is removed from the disconnect box breaks contact between the line terminal and fuses. In this type of disconnect the line wires are secured in the line terminals that are in communication with the prongs of the pull header, which, in turn are in contact with the fuses. The fuses, at the other end, are in contact with the load terminals to which the load wires are secured therein.
It is apparent that both of air conditioner disconnects are difficult to assemble, involve a great number of parts, and are costly. Moreover, each of these disconnects do not have an internal shield current carrying components. If the interior of the disconnect box is accessible, the energized components are exposed creating a potentially dangerous condition.
It would therefore be desirable to have the fuses of the disconnect box make and break the circuit alone and thereby eliminate the need for bus bars and puller headers with prongs. It would also be desirable to eliminate expensive fuse clips, to have indicia that notify a technician visually and through feel when the disconnect box is operational or non-operational, and provide a way for assemblers of the disconnect box to "snap fit" components of the box into its interior. It would also be desirable to have an internal shield or plate such that the energized components are not exposed if the interior of the box is accessible.